What would Keynes do?

The philosopher John Gray has written an article on the BBC News website entitled A Point of View: What would Keynes do? It's well worth a read to get some feel for who Keynes was, and how he thought.

Gray makes an important distinction in his article, notably that what Keynes might propose if faced with today's economic environment is different to what is generally described in the press as "Keynesian economics", i.e. tax and spend policies.

The other important thing about this article is the following - it's written not by an economist but a philosopher. What is always important is not to be parochial when studying economics - others can, of course contribute and we shouldn't be so arrogant as to think we can't learn from those in other fields. However, unlike any other science, almost everyone thinks they know something about economics, and often what they think they know is fused with their political beliefs, meaning that it will be very hard, if not impossible, to reason in such a situation. It's a good practice ground to try though - helps you to think about what you know about the economy if you're forced to think quickly on your feet in a discussion with a friend who shares different political beliefs to you...

And, of course, it's great if you can challenge your own political beliefs using what you've learnt in economics. Try not to simply take the bits of economics that suit your political beliefs but instead let your beliefs be shaped as much as possible by what you learn as an economics student...